Sugar Coated
by clockwork starlight
Summary: kind of almost sequel to Small Miracles. SasuxHina Valentine's Day piece. Chocolate and challenge questions...


And here we have it, clockwork's mandatory Valentine's Day fic. God damn you conformity. Don't own Naruto, don't own any amount of chocolate at the moment, both of which are extreme tragedies, and you should be thanking whatever deity(s) you have that both are true. It's midnight thirty where I am, and I did this in half an hour. Go hug a tree.

* * *

"What do you mean you don't understand the point of Valentine's Day?"

Sasuke looked perplexedly at his lover. Hinata had to be one of the most sensitive and caring people on the planet. So why was she questioning what was supposed to be the most romantic day of the year?

"As far as I can see, it's taking the martyrdom of some long dead Saint and using it as an excuse to sell things." Hinata moodily selected a bonbon from the assortment Sasuke had brought with him, and held it out to him. She repressed the urge to roll her eyes as he bit into it sensually, warm breath caressing her fingertips. He wasn't going to distract her that way.

"But you love chocolate." He remarked reasonably as she nibbled the remains of the treat. They were lounging on a clear spot of the rather messy piece of furniture, that supposedly had a bed somewhere beneath the mass of bed clothes, folded laundry and laundry that needed folding.

"More than is probably healthy," she admitted, scraping the caramel off her fingertip with her teeth. "But all the _commercialism_…"

"And we all know how much you hate commercialism. You can't just take advantage of it like most women, can you?"

"You knew I wasn't like most women, and you kissed me first." She reminded him, waving a peanut cluster to emphasize her point.

"Can't say I regret it, it _was_ Christmas. Anyway, what's not to get about Valentine's Day? There's romance, chocolate and flowers."

"You're allergic to flowers, and sappy romance. And chocolate is almost always present in all our encounters anyway." She pulled her hand away from playful nipping teeth. "Not that you _need_ the endorphins."

"What can I say, but bring up that age old adage? Chocolate contains endorphins. Endorphins make people happy. And happy people just don't going around killing people."

"You're usually too busy… doing things to go on a killing spree." She chewed on her chocolate sulkily.

"I prefer red on your skin than on my clothes."

"Speaking of red, why is _it_ so pervasive around this time? Red roses are one thing… but those hideously carmine canine cupids?" Her eyes narrowed at the remembrance of a recent addition to the display cases at the mall.

"You can't just accept it in the spirit of things romance?" He caught the sweet smeared fingers, bringing them to his own mouth to lazily clean.

"Last I checked romance was not defined as being covered in hearts, and less than five dollars." Her fingers twitched ever so slightly, under his administrations or her aggravation he wasn't sure.

"It's the thought that counts."

"The thought that it's just another day, cleverly disguised in sugar coating as 'charm the socks off your love interest' fest 2006?"

"Nah. More like the thoughts of you in that lacy black underwear, me on red satin sheets, with heart shaped pillows, doing naughty things with chocolate."

"And this thought of yours only presents itself February 14th?"

"Well… no, but—"

"Exactly. The only thing they're doing is knocking a couple of dollars off things that shouldn't need to be sold. Excluding chocolate. Because I will almost always capitulate for chocolate."

"Don't I know it." He held a sinfully divine looking confection tantalizingly above her lips, cocky smirk at full wattage.

"And you think that just because you brought me sweets, I will accept that Valentine's Day is worthy of acknowledgement?" She took it from him, fingers not lips, unwilling to play his game.

"No, I think that you're thinking too much, and ignoring the simple pleasures."

"You're just upset that even with the chocolate, I'm not in the mood to eat it off you."

"I'm not _that_ single-minded. Mostly. Occasionally I do enjoy heart-to-heart conversation. Though at the moment it's heart-to-stone."

"Hey!" The glare that was leveled at him wasn't quite up to par, mostly because there was a very distracting smudge of chocolate on the corner of that Cupid's bow mouth. The dark stain, however small, was very obvious against her porcelain skin. He took advantage of her readying to launch herself in retort, and took care of it himself.

He successfully managed to distract them both for a little while.

"There's the spirit of Valentine's Day, love." His face loomed over hers, intentions more than obvious, give or take another five minutes.

"Chocolate flavored kisses?" She asked, tilting her head innocently.

"Kisses with a special someone. An entire day devoted to collecting them, and for those not as talented as I am, props to aid them on their… noble quest."

"You spent most of your time here arguing with me." She pointed out less than politely.

"Then I'll obviously have to make amends."

After she had finally, reluctantly, petulantly conceded that maybe he had a point, and that maybe Valentine's Day wasn't so pointless, he pulled the box of chocolates closer and peeked into it. Surprisingly the bonbons weren't much depleted, the two of them having spent most of the time talking. He hadn't touched the centerpiece, knowing she wouldn't have until he agreed to split it. It was a large chunk of unholy delectation, pink cursive cheerfully declaring "Happy Valentine's Day!" across the heart shape.

"I'm not touching that." She warned him, a tad breathily, but still coherent enough to get the message across.

"A fleeting cliché just crossed my mind is all…"

The thing about this particular selection of sweets, was that they were specially made, and because of the nature of events, not publicized anywhere but specific places. Underneath that fatal looking slab had been hollowed out, leaving enough room for a ring box. He debated forgetting the entire episode and waiting till she was less aware of 'romance'.

"Relating to that delightfully unhealthy death in a box?"

"Care to split it with me? Please?"

Why did she always have to lose all sense of willpower when those dark eyes focused on her?

"Fine, but don't expect me to eat it."

"Then you can break it."

"Like your mouth hasn't had enough of me by now." She carefully took the confection out of it's paper protection, feeling the chocolate give way ever so slightly beneath warm fingers. She applied pressure to the center with her thumbs, feeling it break, feeling something drop.

"What…" She took the box disbelieving. Deep red heart shaped plastic greeted her. "You weren't lying when you said cliché." she said numbly.

"Yeah, well." Sasuke looked a tad sheepish. He took the box from her, and took out the simple silver band. "It's just a promise ring… I didn't really… um." She shut him up with a gentle press of lips.

"I feel kind of bad about breaking it." She confessed against his skin.

"Why?"

"Because it was a _very_ Happy Valentine's Day."

"_Now_ who's being cliché?"

* * *

clockwork is a bad authoress. However, clockwork doesn't particularly give a damn at the moment. Happy Singles Awareness Day. And may the Lady above have mercy and put us miserable souls who vaguely wish we were single away in a cage of rabid love bugs. There was no particular thought going into this... more like a way to try and cure dorm room insomnia...

I may have to take this one down when I'm somewhat more coherent in thought and word.

psst... how many of you actually read the authoress' notes? because most of you seem to be kind of bad at it. Cheers to the fabulous people reading this, lemon tinted chocolate was for you.


End file.
